Central Pattana, the real-estate development arm of retail giant Central Group, will move beyond its Bangkok base with new centres opening this week and next year in areas where the economy is expanding, as well as near Thailand’s borders.

Central Pattana says it will open a mall complex with a supermarket and cinema in the northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima in the third quarter of next year. It will invest about 10.5 billion baht (US$300 million), the company’s second-largest investment ever for one project after its flagship Central World mall in Bangkok.

“Nakhon Ratchasima is a centre that connects the ASEAN economic community, with easy access from Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam,” says senior executive VP Wallaya Chirathivat. About 200km from the border with Cambodia, Nakhon Ratchasima has a population of 2.6 million people and is second among provinces after Bangkok.

As well as the mall, the company will later build a 400-room hotel and condominiums in the same area.

The complex will offer business amenities, including a 7000 sqm convention hall. Central Pattana opens another mall this week in southern Thailand’s Nakhon Si Thammarat Province, about 250km from the Malaysian border, and being promoted by the Thai government as a tourism destination. The company invested about 1.9 billion baht for the mall, which has about 300 stores.

Central Pattana has 29 malls in Thailand, with more than 10 in Bangkok. The first overseas branch is planned for Malaysia in 2018.